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One of the most famous lines in the screen classic Casablanca has the corrupt police chief, played by Claud Raines, instructing his charges to “round up the usual suspects.”

At the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship in Saint John, N.B. beginning Saturday, rounding up the usual suspects — teams in line for a title — shouldn’t take very long. In fact, many in the game think it will be a party of two.

Clearly, this event is Ottawa skip Rachel Homan’s to lose. Lead Lisa Weagle — best known for perfecting the early-end “tick” shot which is now informally named for her — second Alison Kreviazuk, third Emma Miskew and Homan are on a two-year roll. They have won back-to-back Scotties in Kingston, Ont. and Montreal, thus for the second year running, they will wear the Maple Leaf at the worlds.

Last year in Riga, Latvia, Homan’s crew fell short and settled for a bronze while Scotland’s Eve Muirhead outduelled Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson to win the title.

Fast-forward a year, move the event to home soil, eliminate many of the world’s top names such as Muirhead, Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott who won the championship in Lethbridge two years ago, China’s Bingyu Wang and German’s Andrea Schoepp, and you can see why Canadian curling fans are confident.

If accomplished, it would be the first title since Olympic gold medallist Jennifer Jones did the deed in Vernon, B.C. in 2008.

Enter Sigfridsson, the other on the short list of event favourites.

The Swedish unit sees the skip throw lead stones, while Maria Prytz tosses last bricks. Christina Bertrup and Maria Wennerstrom are the other team members. Sweden is similar to Homan’s team in many ways, though it is a more experienced squad. But this team also will be looking at shedding a bridesmaid image that has seen it win four silvers at this event, and a silver at the Sochi Games. Outside of European events, the team has never won gold.

Something has to give.

Miskew says Jones’ gold doesn’t push the pressure to add a world title for Canada here. She says they were already pumped.

“I think we created our own motivation from last year having lost that semifinal,” said Miskew.

“We want to go and win the gold this year. We have some unfinished business we want to take care of, more so than relating it to the Olympic teams. We are very proud of both Olympics teams for winning gold.

“The Swedish team is really experienced and has great self confidence after winning the silver in Sochi,” said Lindholm.

“This time we have a new spare. Her name is Sara McManus and she is a young, top curler in Sweden and her team is one of the best and a really upcoming team. The reason for the change is to get more energy into the team since the season has been intense with focus on Sochi,” he added.

Lindholm hopes the injection and desire to reach the top the podium will make the difference.

“We now have a good mix of experience and hunger. By experience and earlier results, the dream final would be Sweden-Canada. Homan is a great team and the games between Sigfridsson-Homan should be in the crowd’s favour.”

Now you still have to play the games and there are eight other teams that have qualified — sort of — to get here. Most other nations earn a berth from last year’s Europeans or Pacific Rim championships but that is just for country, not the specific rink, such as Canada does.

Of them, the teams that seem to have the best potential to give others fits and win on any given draw are American Allison Pottinger, who is actually a Brampton, Ont. native, now out of St. Paul, Minn.; and the Russian crew of Anna Sidorova, albeit coming off of a very disappointing home-soil performance in Sochi.

The next tier of maybes includes some interesting stories: Germany, Denmark, Switzerland are all long-standing women’s world curling powers, and throw in the Koreans who get better each time out.

The problem for these units might be personnel.

The Germans have endured a tad of a controversy which has seen some of the experienced players from the two-time winning Schoepp unit, who also won Olympic gold and seven European titles, reportedly jettison the skip against her will. While Schoepp has always been seen as a brash, strong personality, there is no arguing with her on-ice success, which includes a title at this event in Swift Current, Sask. in 2010.

While Lene Nielsen represented Denmark and Ott, Switzerland, in Sochi, neither will be here.

Enter The Danish Dupont crew, sisters Madeline and Denise at the high end, who have world and Olympic experience and were once coached by Grande Prairie, Alta.’s Renee Sonnenberg, who herself played in the Olympic Trials in Winnipeg in 2013.

Switzerland will be represented by Binia Feltscher and in her entourage is Canadian Al Moore, husband of TSN curling voice and former world champ Linda Moore.

The Koreans remain somewhat enigmatic, but delightful to watch. Ji-Sun Kim’s crew lost the bronze medal game to Edmonton’s Heather Nedohin at this event in Lethbridge two years ago — she was the story of the week.

Rounding out the field, you have the next tier of countries which are emerging but are struggling to find their way. The top of this list is China. Whereas Bingyu (Betty) Wang seemed to be on the precipice of many marquee titles when she first lost to Jones in Vernon, she has not been able to seal the deal and is not here, instead it’s Liu Sijia leading the charge.

With Muirhead ineligible — a federation choice — the young unit of Kerry Barr will wear St. Andrew’s Cross, but they are in deep here.

Add to the roster Latvia’s Evita Regza, the Czech Republic’s Anna Kubeskova who are emerging on the women’s scene and taking spots from traditional participants Italy, Norway, and Japan most notably. It speaks to the growth of the game in new markets, but certainly they are nowhere near ready to win an enduring event such as this.

Bad weather has been the real story prior to the Ford Women’s World Curling Championship.

There are still several players, coaches and officials and TV crew with equipment who have not made it to this Atlantic-storm battered New Brunswick city. Many have been stranded in Montreal or Halifax, many opting for ground transportation from Fredericton or Moncton.

This is eerily similar to last year’s worlds where many teams, including Rachel Homan’s Canadian squad, were stranded for more than 24 hours in Frankfurt before getting to Latvia for the competition.

SWEDISH EDGE?

Canadian third Emma Miskew admits if Sweden does have one advantage, it is language.

You see, the Swedes all speak English very well, while the Canadians’ Swedish — not so much. That can come into play for strategy.

“Usually you hear the other team talking about a shot and you can hear what they are saying,” Miskew said. “You go to the international (game) and some teams speak English and other teams don’t. You have no idea what they are talking about.”

Canada, Sweden favoured at world women's curling championship

One of the most famous lines in the screen classic Casablanca has the corrupt police chief, played by Claud Raines, instructing his charges to “round up the usual suspects.”

At the Ford Women’s World Curling Championship in Saint John, N.B. beginning Saturday, rounding up the usual suspects — teams in line for a title — shouldn’t take very long. In fact, many in the game think it will be a party of two.

Clearly, this event is Ottawa skip Rachel Homan’s to lose. Lead Lisa Weagle — best known for perfecting the early-end “tick” shot which is now informally named for her — second Alison Kreviazuk, third Emma Miskew and Homan are on a two-year roll. They have won back-to-back Scotties in Kingston, Ont. and Montreal, thus for the second year running, they will wear the Maple Leaf at the worlds.

Last year in Riga, Latvia, Homan’s crew fell short and settled for a bronze while Scotland’s Eve Muirhead outduelled Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson to win the title.